Gifts from the heart

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ed is the color of love. It can signify heartfelt emotions, from affection to passion to lust. So it seemed only fitting that we celebrate Valentine's Day in red with a few gift ideas that do more than get you in good with your sweetie – they do others good as well.

Some of those gifts can be found at the Pepper Project (
pepperproject.org). This Orange-based nonprofit organization is a longtime favorite of mine (full disclosure, the Pepper Project is the brainchild of my friend Tom Gordon, a Register editor, and his wife, Cris Peterson) because it has the coolest on-trend accessories for a startlingly small amount of cash. (Its colorful scarves and messenger bags make great gifts, but I admit to having a stash myself just to add a little folksy style to an everyday outfit.)

Founded “about three years” ago, Peterson says, Pepper Project sprang from her and her husband's affection for Cambodia.

“Tom and I have traveled all over Asia and just fell in love with Cambodia and its people. When we sampled Kampot pepper – and saw how hard the farmers there work – we knew we had to sell it in the U.S.,” Peterson said in an email interview.

Peterson and Gordon (the Pepper Project's sole volunteers) began by selling Kampot pepper (yum!) and sending proceeds back to Cambodia in the form of student sponsorships and charity donations. Since then, the organization has grown to include partner businesses and organizations in Cambodia that create jewelry, scarves (in silk and cotton), spa products and amazing bags made out of rice or cement sacks covered in plastic.

Most of Pepper Project's items sell for less than $20, many go for less than $10, and 100 percent of the proceeds go back to the people who make the items, or their charities.

Recently, Pepper Project began selling its wares in a few brick-and-mortar stores (see box at right for details) and added some beautiful sandalwood seed jewelry that Peterson says is made by “a family that lives north of Phnom Penh. The father was disabled by a land mine and the mother had polio. They have three children and that jewelry is their livelihood. Some of the seeds are collected from the forest, and the family has planted sandalwood trees near their home.”

The Sandalwood Seed line includes a bright red statement necklace – as well as earrings and bracelets – that makes a giant impact with a white T-shirt and jeans or a strapless LBD, for only $18.

Pepper Project, though near and dear to my heart, is only one of the places you can go to find Valentine's gifts that are good, and do good.

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